Staff Report
Town Manager Tony Marino’s report to the town council this week provided updates on several ongoing projects and issues in Winthrop.
“The last two weeks have been filled with resident meetings to review their water/sewer bill concerns as we work towards installing new meters and addressing the estimated water bills due to the meter reader devices not communicating with our billing software.” Marino stated. “We are investigating each complaint and will adjust as warranted. We continue to find that some of these increases are attributable to water leaks in homes and irrigation systems, as well as to increases in the number of occupants in homes and apartments.”
Often, meter reader devices stop working due to work on homes or apartments, inadvertent wire cuts, or normal wear and tear, Marino added.
“We also offer payment plans to our residents, allowing them time to get caught up once their water usage is accurately documented,” he said.
The town manager said the Revere Street TIP project will continue as the work is now focused on switching over to the new traffic lights and installing solar controls on the streetlights so they go off during the daytime hours.
“The curb and concrete work will resume in the Spring of 2026,” Marino stated.
In other business, Marino said he and Town Council President Jim Letterie hosted a meeting with the four new Town Councilor-Elect members last week.
“At this meeting, we presented the new Town Councilor handbook and had them complete the new employee paperwork we need to process their Town Councilor salary payments,” said Marino. “This was a productive and well-received meeting with the new Town Council members. Assistant Town Manager Cheryl McCormick and HR Director Stacy Calla were also in attendance.”
Marino added that work continues on the new dispatch center for the Metro North Regional Emergency Communications Center (MNRECC) at the McKinley School in Revere.
“We expect the bids for the upgrades and construction of this new facility to be in over the next two weeks, and look forward to construction work beginning during the upcoming winter and spring months,” he said. “This work and the new dispatch center will host our dispatch services for Revere, Winthrop, and our recent addition of Chelsea. MNRECC continues to use State 911 grant funds to pay for our portion of the construction costs, and we anticipate long-term savings with the addition of Chelsea to our Regional Dispatch Center.”